Labs change owners; workers await fate

A deal has been reached calling for Dignity Health to sell its lab-related outreach service line that includes Stockton's large HealthCare Clinical Laboratories operation to Quest Diagnostics.

Joe Goldeen

A deal has been reached calling for Dignity Health to sell its lab-related outreach service line that includes Stockton's large HealthCare Clinical Laboratories operation to Quest Diagnostics.

The definitive agreement expected to be completed in June means that Madison, N.J.-based Quest, the nation's largest operator of medical testing labs, will acquire Dignity's nonhospital labs and patient service centers, also known as draw stations, used by patients outside the hospital setting in Stockton, as well as Glendale, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oxnard, Redding, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Ventura and Woodland.

Quest Diagnostics said in a statement released Wednesday that it will perform testing from the acquired operations through its clinical laboratories in Las Vegas, Sacramento and West Hills. It did not elaborate.

"Hospital-based laboratories are not included in the agreement," San Francisco-based Dignity Health confirmed in its own statement issued Wednesday. Dignity Health also owns San Joaquin County's largest hospital, St. Joseph's Medical Center in Stockton.

"Dignity Health's primary interest in signing this agreement is to ensure that individuals in the communities impacted by the sale continue to be able to receive care at locations that are convenient to them from a provider that delivers outstanding service," the statement said.

In addition to its 26,000-square-foot main laboratory at 2102 N. California St. in Stockton, HealthCare Clinical Lab operations in San Joaquin County include another 15 sites in Stockton, one in Lathrop and two each in Lodi, Manteca and Tracy.

It employs an estimated 365 workers locally, most with college degrees and advanced training, and serves customers from throughout California. In recent years, it has handled 3 million transactions annually.

When asked what lab employees concerned about the future of their jobs in the Stockton area could expect, Wendy Bost, a spokeswoman for Quest, said Wednesday:

"From our perspective, we see this as an opportunity to expand patient service centers and draw centers. We also expect this transaction to be a positive for patients and their families. We provide quality diagnostic services and we will do it at a lower cost to them."

When asked to be more specific, Bost said, "We do expect we would be hiring for phlebotomists and others to help us handle the additional volume. This is not a completed transaction yet."

Natalie Pettis, a Stockton-based spokeswoman for Dignity Health, said Wednesday that representatives will be talking to current employees "about their options for employment with Dignity Health and Quest."